Early Renaissance: The Medici Family and Renaissance Art Notebook Pages

The past few weeks we started learning about the early Renaissance period. Last semester we studied the Middle Ages. We finished in the 1300s with the Black Plague and Hundred Years War. In January, we started Suzanne Strauss Art’s book, The Story of the Renaissance, (affiliate link) which we are using as our spine for the Renaissance and Reformation.

It started with a section on the medieval scholars — Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio (which we didn’t get to last semester before the holidays arrived). The kids filled out this notebook page which is free if you can use it:

We then read Dante’s Divine Comedy: As Told for Young People (affiliate link) aloud together. The kids really were fascinated by this book (and would beg for me to read more!)… Some parts were better suited for middle school students because as you probably know, Dante was describing the punishments given to various people as Dante and his guide, Virgil, descend through the various layers of Hell. Since his work had such a profound impact on later Renaissance artists and scholars, I was really glad we read it. It sparked some really good conversations for our family. This version was great for the ages of my kids (12, 10) as a read aloud.

From there we went on to read about the Italian city-states. The book we are using does not have color photos, so I put together a packet to highlight some of the amazing works of architecture and art from this period we were learning about. We looked at pictures from the major Italian city-states of Milan, Florence, Venice and the Papal States:

These notebook pages are included in our 90+ page European History 1500-1750 Packet on the Renaissance, Reformation, Age of Absolutism, Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment. See more details below!

Then came the really fun, fascinating material… the Medici family! We learned about Giovanni, his son Cosimo, and grandson Lorenzo de’ Medici. Their powerful bank brought the family great wealth and their family became important patrons of the arts. We learned about many of the key artists of the Early Italian Renaissance: Donatello, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Masaccio and Botticelli. We have also started to talk about Michelangelo and Leonardo daVinci, though I’ll share more about these two artists in the next post.

These notebook pages are included in our 90+ page European History 1500-1750 Packet on the Renaissance, Reformation, Age of Absolutism, Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment. See more details below!

The history book we’re using, The Story of the Renaissance (affiliate link), did a really great job explaining the close relationship between the Medici and the artists they commissioned. After reading those sections in the book and talking about the art (and filling out the notebook pages you see above), we spent several days watching the documentary, Empires – The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance, (affiliate link). Wow! That was a really great series (there were 4 episodes). These did a fabulous job explaining how the Medici family influenced the events of early Renaissance period. Events were re-enacted. If you have a younger/sensitive child you will probably want to preview this series. My 10 and 12 year old were fine, but my 8 year old turned her head at some of the scenes. This is also available from Amazon streaming here: The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance (affiliate link), so you can watch it free if you have Amazon Prime.

These notebook pages are included in our 90+ page European History 1500-1750 Packet on the Renaissance, Reformation, Age of Absolutism, Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment. See more details below!

Early Italian Renaissance: Medici Family and Renaissance Art

What is in the European History Packet? You will find a detailed list of what is in this packet at this post: European History Packet

How do I purchase this packet? When you click on the Buy Now button below, it will take you to Paypal. You can use a credit card rather than PayPal by clicking on the grey button (just below the blue button). Upon receipt of payment you will immediately get a link to download this pdf in your browser. You will also receive an email from SendOwl Downloads which will give you a link to download. (Check the email linked to your PayPal account.) Of course, if you have any issues just email me at — liesl at homeschoolden dot com. You can also reach me by using the contact form. ~Liesl

This packet is 90+ pages. At the beginning of each section, I have a cover page that gives you an overview of what we did and how we used the materials provided.

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Hi! I’m Liesl!

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I love the quote by William Butler Yeats, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." It's about getting the kids involved, engaged, and fired up about learning (while juggling the rest of life too!)
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